[1] He studied classical philology at the University of Leipzig and received his doctorate in 1882 with the dissertation: "The German social democracy, their history and their teaching".

He was initially a supporter of liberal democratic ideals and allied himself with the national-liberal camp, however after being acquainted with working-class leaders such as August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht Mehring gradually moved towards socialism.

In 1916, the left-wing Marxist revolutionary Spartacus League was founded and Mehring was one of its main leaders alongside Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg.

After "long and irritating delays owing to the military censorship" (according to the English translator Edward Fitzgerald, 1935 U.S. edition), Mehring's Karl Marx: The Story of His Life was published in 1918.

His grave now forms part of the Memorial to the Socialists (German: Gedenkstätte der Sozialisten) in the Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery, Berlin.

Mehring's papers reside as fond 201 at the Russian Center for Preservation and Research of Modern Historical Documents (RCChIDNI) in Moscow.